fcc

While Ajit Pai, the new pro-industry chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has pledged to “take a weed-whacker” to the FCC’s net neutrality rules that restrict internet service providers’ ability to interfere with your web use, he’ll have to wait a bit longer to do that regulatory gardening. The FCC has grudgingly decided to extend the current comment period a little longer. [More]

Since it became obvious that internet access was going to be an essential for everyday living, the Federal Communications Commission has wrestled with how to encourage providers to build expensive wired networks to reach rural and remote communities, but not with much luck. Now the FCC is considering a new tactic for solving this problem: Suggesting that maybe there isn’t a problem so long as you can get online with your phone. [More]

A health insurance marketing company that allegedly placed more than 21 million illegal automated phone calls, interrupting the enjoyment of Modern Family reruns for Americans everywhere, now faces fines in excess of $82 million for violations of the Truth In Caller ID Act. [More]

Today, a huge swath of the internet is taking a break from our regularly scheduled cat photos, *.gif memes, and political news to talk about something that affects the entire internet: net neutrality. [More]

Usually if your identity is stolen, there’s something you can do about it: Call a business, file a dispute over a charge, or contact law enforcement. But if someone “borrows” your identity to file a fake comment with an open government proceeding — like, say, the one in progress to kill off net neutrality — there may be diddly squat you can do. [More]

A Florida man accused of blasting out 100 million illegal robocalls where he falsely claimed to represent companies like TripAdvisor, Marriott, Expedia, or Hilton may finally have to pay for annoying the ever-living heck out of people. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed slapping a $120 million penalty on this obnoxious operation. [More]

For many of us who live in cities or suburbs, doctors and hospitals are plentiful and nearby. That’s not true for much of rural America, where medical care can be harder to come by. New broadband technology could help bridge that gap, providing care to people everywhere, but it’s of little use if the folks who need it most aren’t able to get online. [More]

Imagine sitting around your Florida home in August, just as hurricane season is swinging into high gear, when your TV suddenly starts making a familiar alert sound, declaring “This is not a test. This is an emergency broadcast transmission.” Then you look up at the screen and see it’s just an ad for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not only is this a bad idea for a TV commercial; it’s also against the law. [More]

An automated, prerecorded phone call that goes straight to voicemail may be slightly less annoying than a robocall that causes your phone to ring, but is it any less of a robocall? The Republican National Committee and the lobbyists at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce think these “ringless” robocalls are just fine, and have asked the FCC to allow telemarketers to use them. [More]

FCC Chair Ajit Pai recently shrugged off concerns about the hundreds of thousands of bogus, identical anti-net neutrality comments filed with the Commission, saying it was something for his IT folks to look into. But the real human beings whose names were used on those fake filings are not as indifferent, and are calling on Pai to investigate. [More]

Do you like being able to access what you want on the internet without Comcast, Charter, AT&T, or some other ISP slowing it down, blocking it, or charging you extra? Well, bad news: The FCC has begun a process that will — unless things change dramatically in the coming months — repeal rules intended to protect internet users from this sort of interference. Here’s the better news: You can tell them what you think about that. [More]

As expected, the Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 this morning to move forward with Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to roll back “net neutrality” rules that currently prevent internet service providers from having any say in what you see or do online. [More]

Later this week, the three sitting members of the Federal Communications Commission are expected to vote 2-1 in favor of officially beginning the process of killing net neutrality. The lone neutrality defender on the FCC stands little chance of swaying her colleagues, leading some to speculate that she could slow down the repeal effort by removing herself from the equation altogether. [More]

The Federal Communications Commission will soon begin the long process of trying to roll back the Open Internet Order, the FCC’s barely two-year-old rule that prohibits internet service providers and wireless companies from having any say in what you do or where you go online. Though the Commission’s lone Democrat is unlikely to change the minds of her anti-regulation colleagues, she’s not ready to admit defeat just yet. [More]

As if the saga of Net Neutrality 3.0 weren’t already strange and complicated enough, we can now chalk up another weirdness in the proceeding. Someone who really hates net neutrality has set up a spambot that is sending massive numbers of identical, cloned comments to the FCC’s website, using the identities of people who have no idea their names have been attached to these comments. [More]

Sometimes, the old saw goes, you’ve got to go to war with the resources you actually have, not the ones you might want. So with nothing really left to lose in her battle to preserve net neutrality, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner is deploying some scorched-earth Microsoft Word table-making to use FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s own words against him. [More]